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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27308581">We're Shadows in the Rain</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_genderman/pseuds/the_genderman'>the_genderman</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars Sequel Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Anal Sex, Armitage Hux Smokes, Armitage Hux is not dead, Bottom Armitage Hux, Force Shenanigans (Star Wars), Hux in exile, Kylo Ren is not dead... anymore, M/M, Post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Tentacles, That's Not How The Force Works, Top Kylo Ren, Weirdness, a hint of soulmates</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 20:14:00</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,050</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27308581</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_genderman/pseuds/the_genderman</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The First Order has fallen. Kylo Ren is dead. Armitage Hux is in exile, simply trying to live, to find some purpose in the life he didn’t expect to continue living. He settles into a routine on a rainy little planet out in Wild Space—no matter where you go, everyone needs engineers—that reminds him a little of his past, and tries to forget his failures. A difficult proposition when the not-so-dead ghost of one of those failures shows up on his doorstep one night.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Armitage Hux/Kylo Ren</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>135</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>We're Shadows in the Rain</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Armitage Hux could be forgiven for thinking he was seeing ghosts. After all, per official records, <i>he</i> was dead. The victorious resistance, still believing him a defector, dutifully marked him off on the list of casualties from the battle over Exegol and supplied him with a new identity, enough credits to settle him into a basic existence, and passage to wherever he wanted to begin his new life. He opted to disappear into a part of Wild Space where his face wasn’t yet known and reviled. To live out the rest of his life working for his credits, putting his engineering skills to more than theoretical use, and trying to come to terms with his very recent, very large failures. And so, he found himself at the utter tail end of the galaxy on a planet where it rained enough to remind him of the earliest part of his childhood when he hadn’t yet been branded by his father’s favorite word for him: <i>failure</i>.</p>
<p>Lifting the hood of his cloak up with one hand to see more clearly out from under its heavy, nominally waterproofed cloth in the pouring rain, Hux leaned onto the cane he still needed—might need for the rest of his life—and squinted at the dark shape flickering in the darkness at his front door. It was just a trick of the weather, he told himself. His imagination running wild in the night, spurred on by the well-paying but lengthy and technical job he had accepted today, the hasty and too small dinner bought from a street vendor as he headed home, and the burnt out lamp that should have blinked on to illuminate his doorway as soon as the sun had set. Just wishful thinking when the first jolt of thought in the back of his mind had been <i>that looks like Ren</i>. Kylo Ren was dead. That, too, could be laid at his feet in his pile of failures. </p>
<p>Ren had asked him to play turncoat, to become a double, a <i>triple</i> agent for him. Had asked him to feed low quality but tempting information to the resistance to draw them close so they could be snapped up and finished off. Instead, he had been sniffed out by a jealous rival, shot, and dragged off to the morgue as if he were dead. His blaster vest had kept him alive, but he still had to contend with the injuries from the close-quarters bolt, the still healing wound to his leg, and the fact that he was stuck in the morgue. He had nearly died for real over Exegol, but the resistance had snapped him up and spirited him away to safety. Without him, Ren <i>had</i> died on Exegol, killed by the resurrected—cloned, whatever, oh did it even matter? —Palpatine. The resistance seemed to believe that Ren had returned to the light before dying, but Hux would not accept <i>that</i> in his numerous failures. The scavenger girl was sentimental and hopelessly optimistic; he knew… <i>had known</i> Ren better.</p>
<p>Or so Hux told himself. How well could he truly have known Ren if mere shadows still made his heart race as if he were to be reunited with his lover? Had they truly ever been lovers? It had been almost a year since Ren had died and he still couldn’t answer that question. Oh, they’d had <i>something</i>, certainly, but neither of them had been particularly well-suited for a proper relationship. Though… despite the bumps and snags, they <i>were</i> suited for each other. No matter what happened, they always found their ways back together.</p>
<p>Until they didn’t.</p>
<p>Hux blinked and the shadow was gone, like it had never been there. He frowned and began walking again. It would be good to get out of the rain. His home was small and lacked a great many of the amenities he had long been used to, but it was warm and dry and <i>his</i> to improve as he was able. He fished an actual, physical key out of his pocket and unlocked his door.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>-------------------------</p>
</div>Two nights later, Hux saw the shadow again. He had been up later than he had planned, fixing a blown tube in his secondhand conservator so his food wouldn’t go bad overnight; he certainly wouldn’t consider himself poor, but he didn’t like losing food and having to dip into the unexpected expenditures section of his careful budget. This planet didn’t seem to believe in subsisting off of ration bars, their price excessively much higher than the raw components, so he had had to learn how to actually cook. He was tired, disheveled, and sweating, but he didn’t think the crawling sensation on the back of his neck could be attributed to either sweat or loose hairs. He turned slowly toward his kitchen window. The window was tinted to prevent anyone from being able to see in from the outside, but tonight, it felt like someone was out there, watching him despite it. He wiped his hands on the cleanest part of the closest rag and stood up, grunting at the stiffness in his leg; it did not appreciate sitting on the floor for hours. Limping over to the window, he leaned over the sink and squinted out into the darkness.<p>He almost missed it but for a fortuitously timed break in the cloud cover, letting the light of one of the planet’s moons peer thinly through. It was the same shadow, Hux was <i>sure</i> of it. The shadow stood unmoving under the gnarled old fruit tree in his tiny yard. He couldn’t see any kind of detail in the darkness, in the misting drizzle, but he <i>felt</i> it. And it still felt like Ren. His skin prickled. Suppressing a shiver, Hux pushed himself roughly back and turned away from the window. It wasn’t Ren, it couldn’t be. Only light side Force users came back as ghosts, he thought, and besides, they did that whole, you know, glowy thing. And they weren’t visible to Force-nulls. He was just tired and it was some of the local wildlife, drawn to his vegetable garden. He’d have to pick up some more wire netting at the market tomorrow—he had put enough blood, sweat, and tears into that plot, learning how to work the earth and grow his own food-plants, he wasn’t about to allow some filthy mooching animal eat all his hard work.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>---------------------------</p>
</div>For the whole next week Hux felt like he was being followed, and each subsequent day felt like his hidden pursuer was gaining ground on him. It wasn’t anything obvious, and perhaps he was just being paranoid, but he didn’t think so. He never saw whoever or whatever might be following him, but he <i>felt</i> it. He changed his route, changed his routine, took jobs he usually wouldn’t have and declined—politely and in a way where he wouldn’t lose loyal customers—jobs he would. He carried an extra knife when he went out and a concealed small blaster. Technically blasters weren’t permitted within city limits, concealed or not, but he felt better having it on him. Just because he was dead didn’t mean he might not still have enemies out there.<p>It was another rainy night when the shadow appeared again. Hux had fixed his doorlight, which meant it ought to have <i>stayed</i> fixed, but it was out again. He gave a disgruntled sigh and stalked up to his front door, wondering if he had gotten a defective bulb or if there was something wrong with the wiring deeper inside the fixture or, stars forbid, the walls of his house itself. He glanced at the fixture, saw nothing immediately wrong with it, and slipped his key into the lock. As the door swung open, the shadow suddenly reared up behind him, blurred by the darkness and the rain. Hux wheeled around, giving a startled sort of squeak, and he felt a hand on his chest pushing him into his house.</p>
<p>Hux reached for his blaster as he stumbled backwards, letting his cane clatter to the floor. If it came down to a choice between dying or paying the blaster-discharge fine, he’d gladly pay the fine. He raised the blaster under his cloak and fired. The bolt stopped in midair, hanging hot and angry between himself and the shadow. He dropped the blaster. There was only one person he knew who could do that.</p>
<p>“<i>Ren</i>?” Hux gasped, pulling his hood back and reaching for the light switch so he could see more clearly. He had to <i>know</i>. He couldn’t handle the pain and the uncertainty of thinking he was seeing him around corners, wondering if he was merely hallucinating or if Ren could have somehow survived. </p>
<p>The shadow stepped inside and aside, released the blaster bolt, and pulled the door swiftly shut. Hux heard the muffled sound of the impact, hoping whichever building it hit, the neighbor wouldn’t be too angry about it. Maybe it hit a tree instead. Maybe they wouldn’t be able to trace the trajectory to his door. Inside his tiny vestibule, Hux could see that the shadow was very much a solid figure, its cloak dripping rainwater on the floor same as his own. It wasn’t a ghost, but was it <i>alive</i>? Was it actually Ren? The shadow lifted its hands and pulled back its hood.</p>
<p>“I thought I told you to call me Kylo,” he said.</p>
<p>This wasn’t the same Kylo Ren whom Hux had last seen on the Supremacy, leaving for Pasaana, but it <i>was</i> him. His hair was longer, his facial scar and the whites of his eyes had turned a nearly luminescent red like that of bled kyber, and Hux was sure there would be more changes if he looked under his clothes. He swallowed that thought back. He didn’t need to be thinking about that. He’d moved on. </p>
<p>He <i>might</i> have moved on.</p>
<p>Ok, fine. He hadn’t moved on, so sue him. </p>
<p>“You <i>died</i>,” Hux said simply, pushing aside all of the myriad other feelings he wasn’t ready to confront. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to strangle Ren, apologize to him, or drag him into his bedroom. He compromised by pulling his wet cloak off, hanging it up in the vestibule’s drying closet, and holding his hands out to take Kylo’s from him. He would at least have dinner before making that decision.</p>
<p>“Officially, so did you,” Kylo replied. </p>
<p>His words were muffled by his cloak, but Hux could hear the familiar little sarcastic laugh in his voice. This was very much his Kylo, no matter what had happened between his death and this moment.</p>
<p>“How did you find me?” Hux asked, stooping to remove his boots and gesturing for Kylo to do the same. He led Kylo into his kitchen-slash-front room. He’d go back for his cane later, there were too many other things swirling through his mind now that needed dealt with and he wasn’t in too much pain this evening. “For all their many faults, the resistance did do a very thorough job of setting me up with a new identity.”</p>
<p>“I’ll always be able to find you,” Kylo shrugged, walking over to the conservator and poking at Hux’s food, raw ingredients and leftovers.</p>
<p>“Oh, that’s not ominous at all,” Hux replied, rolling his eyes. He pulled a dish out of the conservator and closed the door meaningfully. “Stop that. Are you hungry? I suppose I have enough dinner to share. Assuming you still eat, of course. I’m only officially dead; you very much <i>did</i> die.”</p>
<p>“I know what you feel like in the Force, it’s like a tether or a tracer, almost,” Kylo shrugged, ignoring the question. He leaned up against the counter. “And look at you, you’ve gone all domestic. Who’d have thought it, the feared General Hux, architect of Starkiller, destroyer of worlds, living quietly on a little backwater planet. You have a vegetable garden.”</p>
<p>“You’re not making it sound any better. Also, you died,” Hux said, frowning and stepping around Kylo as he set his dinner to reheat. “You have no right to complain about what I’m doing now.”</p>
<p>“What happened to the best revenge is killing your enemies?”</p>
<p>“The second best revenge is living well where they can’t touch you.”</p>
<p>“And this is living well?” Kylo said, glancing meaningfully around the little hut.</p>
<p>“I’m alive, I’m making use of my training, my skills, and I’m beholden to no one except those whom I choose to take on jobs for. I have no debts. I’m keeping an ear out for interesting chatter. I’m patient,” Hux said, dishing up two bowls of the spiced vegetable stew and adding a thick slice of bread to each. “And I am becoming quite a respectable cook.”</p>
<p>Kylo gave a silent nod, accepted the bowl from Hux, and sat down at the kitchen table to eat. Hux frowned again. He only had one kitchen chair and Kylo, in all of his usual myopia, had taken it for himself without considering where Hux would sit. In his own home. He huffed quietly and decided to eat standing over the sink rather than risk spilling any of it on his couch. They ate in silence. Hux glanced over at Kylo occasionally, wondering, until they both made eye contact at the same time and turned away abruptly like they had touched a live wire. Sopping up the last of the stew with his bread, Hux set his bowl in the sink to take care of later. He felt Kylo slip up behind him to do the same. He ought to have stepped aside, made room for him, but he didn’t want to. He stood firm in front of his sink and let Kylo reach around him.</p>
<p>“You’re upset,” Kylo said, pressing himself up against Hux’s back just a little longer than necessary to get his bowl into the sink.</p>
<p>Hux gripped the edge of the counter a little harder, eyes tracing the fine lines, the subtle geometric patterning on the wall and ignoring the rush of feelings. “You <i>think</i>?”</p>
<p>“Why?”</p>
<p>“You died!”</p>
<p>“Yes, so you keep saying.”</p>
<p>“Why are you here?” Hux said, whirling around to face Kylo. He put his hands on his chest and shoved, radiating intensity. “Why now?”</p>
<p>“It took a while to find you,” Kylo said, backing away from Hux, giving him room.</p>
<p>“I thought you said you had a sort of Force trace on me, that you could find me any time you wanted?” Hux hissed.</p>
<p>“It’s not actually that easy,” Kylo admitted, glancing down at his feet, unwilling to meet Hux’s eyes. “I know what you feel like, and I <i>can</i> trace that feeling, but it’s nothing so precise as a mechanical tracker. I have to deliberately reach out and feel for you. It tells me generally which direction you are from me. Any more, and I have to tease it out of the Force. The Force doesn’t always want to cooperate in exactly the ways I want it to when doing something like that. It’s almost like trying to <i>make</i> a Force vision appear. Also—” he grinned, looking back up at Hux “—as you said, I <i>did</i> die. Coming back wasn’t exactly as quick of a process as it was for you.”</p>
<p>Hux’s nostrils flared, the bridge of his nose wrinkled, and his eyebrows drew in. He gave Kylo a look that was almost a glare before limping around him and through the archway that didn’t quite separate the kitchen and front room. He sat down heavily onto his little two-seat couch. The upholstery was worn and the stuffing a bit squashed, but it was comfortable enough on his budget. He put his feet up on the caf table, making a mental note to sanitize it later. Kylo followed after and sat down next to him, too close on the small couch. Hux fished a half-empty pack of cigarras and a lighter out from between the couch cushions, lit one, and focused on his breathing, trying to keep it steady. Trying to push down the feelings that had surfaced without his permission.</p>
<p>“Somehow I thought you’d be happier to see me,” Kylo said, bemused.</p>
<p>“It’s complicated,” Hux said, giving an annoyed huff. “You were <i>dead</i>.”</p>
<p>“Why do you keep harping on that? Yes, I died, but I’m not dead anymore. I came back,” Kylo said, starting to sound irritated. He wriggled a little deeper into the couch and crossed his arms over his chest.</p>
<p>Hux took a drag on his cigarra and exhaled slowly. He pressed two fingers to each temple, rubbing gently and trying not to get ash on his clothes. He shouldn’t take this out on Kylo, it wasn’t his fault. Kylo had died, caught up in his entanglement with Palpatine and the scavenger girl and their Force connection. Hux had died pretending to be a traitor to the Order he had devoted his life to help build. He hadn’t been there for Kylo, hadn’t been there to keep him focused on their goals beyond immediate needs. Kylo was intelligent, but he lacked patience and foresight. If one of them carried the blame for what had happened, Hux knew who it was.</p>
<p>“I mourned you. I moved on—or thought I had. I made a new life,” Hux began. “I had to figure out how to live without you. Even if we didn’t always have it easy, even when we fought, you were a big part of my life. And then suddenly you weren’t. And… And then when I saw you at my door—that <i>was</i> you, yes?”</p>
<p>Kylo nodded.</p>
<p>“When I saw you, what else was I supposed to think but that I was seeing ghosts and the galaxy was playing a cruel trick on me?” Hux continued, holding his hands out, palms up and fingers splayed helplessly. “Literally laying the blame on my doorstep, saying: <i>Behold, the man you failed to save</i>.”</p>
<p>“Failed to save?” Kylo interrupted, uncrossing his arms and casually laying one over Hux’s shoulders. “I knew you had an ego, but laying my death at your feet seems a bit much, even for you.”</p>
<p>“Speaking freely, you have been known to make stupid decisions without my input,” Hux said, unconsciously leaning into Kylo’s side.</p>
<p>“I’ve been known to make stupid decisions, even <i>with</i> your input; I thought you knew that,” Kylo shot back, grinning. “Speaking of which, how about you show me where your bedroom is and we can make a few questionable decisions right now?”</p>
<p>Hux felt a laugh bubble up, unable to stop himself. The suggestion was both unexpected and classic Kylo. “Well, I see that even death can’t put a stop to your libido,” he said, turning to meet Kylo’s eyes.</p>
<p>“You’re welcome,” Kylo grinned, tipping his head as if accepting accolades. “Is that a yes?”</p>
<p>Hux considered briefly. <i>Very</i> briefly.</p>
<p>“Oh, what the hells,” Hux said, removing his feet from the table, snuffing out his cigarra and leaving it in the ash tray to finish later, and standing up. He offered Kylo his hand. “That is a yes. Bedroom is through here.”</p>
<p>“Do you have everything we might need?” Kylo asked meaningfully, accepting Hux’s hand and rising to his feet a little awkwardly out of the sunken couch cushion.</p>
<p>“I’m single, not celibate,” Hux said, rolling his eyes.</p>
<p>“Who?” Kylo asked, a familiar note of jealousy bleeding into his voice.</p>
<p>“It doesn’t matter,” Hux shrugged. Kylo would get over it quickly enough. “One night stands, I don’t remember their names anymore if I ever knew them in the first place. You were dead, I had needs.”</p>
<p>Kylo huffed but said nothing.</p>
<p>Hux turned his bedroom lights on just enough so they could see their way, but dim enough to set the mood. He glanced quickly back over his shoulder, wondering if Kylo’s eyes and scar would indeed glow in the dim light—he hadn’t seen them when Kylo had been merely a shadow in the rain, but then again, a good cloak could hide many things. Hux’s pulse quickened when he saw a faint red glow emanating from Kylo’s face and neck. With the number of scars Kylo had, it could be like his own personal light show. He thought he liked that concept.</p>
<p>“Do all of your scars do that?” Hux asked as he fished lube and a barrier out of his bedside table and placed them on his bed.</p>
<p>“Wait and see,” Kylo teased, slowly pulling his tunic over his head.</p>
<p>Biting his lip, Hux tried to stifle a whine as Kylo revealed the first strip of skin and the luminescence of the blast scar on his side. It had been far too long since he had last made time with Kylo. Far too long since he had seen him at all. Hux knew he ought to take things slow, savor the reunion, ask some questions about <i>how</i> Kylo wasn’t dead anymore, but he had an infuriating tendency to think with his cock and throw logic out the airlock as soon as Kylo showed him a bit of affection. Ah, well. They’d have time after. Hux hurried to disrobe and catch up to Kylo, who had gotten his tunic all the way off while he had mused.</p>
<p>“Oh, that’s…” Kylo remarked, reaching a hand out and touching the tips of his fingers to Hux’s chest. </p>
<p>Hux looked down automatically, even though he knew what he’d see; the faded burn scar from where Pryde had shot him. The blaster vest had saved his life, but at such close quarters, it had had its work cut out for it. He had bruised badly from the energy of the bolt, and the heat put off when the vest had dissipated it had left a mark.</p>
<p>“I should have asked after you, should have felt for you. I should have known you’d have had a plan, would have survived,” Kylo said, genuine care and regret in his voice. His hand was gentle, ghosting slowly over Hux’s skin, over the scar and down his stomach. “It’s what you do. And I did allow myself to become distracted.”</p>
<p>“Well,” Hux said, inhaling sharply as Kylo’s fingers crept lower. He could feel the blood rushing south away from his brain, and the desire to argue was temporarily quelled. “You’re here now, we’re neither of us dead anymore, so how about you get your pants off.”</p>
<p>“Gladly,” Kylo smirked. He shoved his leggings down around his ankles, stepped out, and straightened back up.</p>
<p>Hux did not yelp, or so he told himself. “What happened?” he asked, remarkably calmly, pointing at Kylo’s cock, which very much did not look the same as when he had seen it last. “That looks necrotic.”</p>
<p>“Well, I <i>did</i> die,” Kylo laughed.</p>
<p>Hux glared at him.</p>
<p>“Still can’t take a joke, huh? I know it looks… bruised, but it feels fine, works fine. I think I would have figured out pretty quickly if it was going to rot off, and as I said earlier, it took a little time to find you; deep space gets boring and lonely,” Kylo said meaningfully.</p>
<p>“It looks more than just bruised.” It wasn’t awful-looking, not really. Hux gave it a little closer scrutiny. It certainly wasn’t the weirdest cock he had seen, but those had been attached to species who looked rather less human. And he supposed it didn’t <i>really</i> look necrotic, but he hadn’t expected the change. Kylo’s cock had managed to transmute itself into something more closely resembling a blotchy, lumpy cephalopod tentacle in shades of deep, livid blue-purples and reds like old blood. The hair around it hadn’t changed, but Hux could see jagged rays of violet-red like unnatural lightning creeping over the skin of Kylo’s balls, groin, and thighs from their epicenter at his cock. “Is that spreading?”</p>
<p>Kylo shook his head. “It’s looked exactly the same for the past seven months. It’s just what I look like now.”</p>
<p>“How?” Hux asked as he climbed onto his bed and lay down. The initial shock was wearing off and the slightly shameful little part of his brain that would want Kylo in whatever form he took found this change rather exciting and was making itself heard.</p>
<p>“Force corruption?” Kylo shrugged. “I don’t actually know, but I blame Exegol. That planet has seen too much. I woke up alone there after everyone else had left and I looked like this. None of this—” he made a sweeping gesture that encompassed his whole body—“has changed since then, so I’m going to assume it’s probably not going to. Do you want to do this or not? I’m getting mixed signals from you.”</p>
<p>“Yes, I want to do this,” Hux said, stretching out. He lifted his arms over his head and raised his good leg, bent at the knee, putting his body on display for Kylo. “Now get down here and don’t make me regret my decision.”</p>
<p>The mattress dipped as Kylo climbed onto the bed, scooting forward until he was kneeling between Hux’s legs. He picked up the foil-wrapped barrier and tore the package open with his teeth. Hux had told him multiple times that wasn’t a good way of doing it, but Kylo liked to show off. As he rolled slowly it on, Hux was left wondering if it was his eyes playing tricks on him, or if Kylo’s cock had in fact curled prehensilely around his fingers as they slid down its length. Now <i>that</i> was a thought. Between the glowing eyes, glowing scars, and a potentially prehensile penis, there were a few things Hux wanted to examine more closely now that Kylo was back. Instead, he merely groaned as Kylo lowered himself down to press his chest to Hux’s and bury his face in the crook of his neck. Hux wrapped his arms around Kylo’s back and one leg around his thighs, holding tightly to him. He wasn’t going to lose him again. He felt the rumble of Kylo’s laugh against his neck.</p>
<p>“You’re awfully eager for someone who called my cock ‘necrotic’ a minute ago,” Kylo murmured and kissed Hux’s jaw.</p>
<p>“Shut up and get the lube,” Hux ordered.</p>
<p>“You’ll have to let me up to do that,” Kylo countered, making no move to try to get off of Hux.</p>
<p>Hux gave a theatrical whine and slowly slid his hands down Kylo’s sides. He dropped his leg back to the mattress, releasing him reluctantly.</p>
<p>“Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere,” Kylo purred as he rose to his knees.</p>
<p>Instead of reaching for the lube bottle, Kylo instead leaned back in and wrapped his fingers around Hux’s wrists, holding them fast and pinning them above his head. Hux started to argue, but Kylo shook his head. There must have been something in his expression, because Hux shut his mouth and peered at him curiously. Kylo let himself relax a little, let himself slip into something that felt just a little fractured off from the reality he lived in. He felt the emanations sprouting out from his spine. There were four of them, appearing a little like vines or tentacles, each as thick as his thumb. Solid enough to wrap around and hold things, but still nearly intangible; like solid smoke, or like the Force condensed and extruded into physical form. They were a deep garnet red, almost black, and glittered like gems, belying their softness.</p>
<p>A little gasp spilled out of Hux. Greed, lust, covetousness, any number of emotions could be distilled out of the sound, and Kylo bared his teeth again in something predatory that could almost be called a grin. Two of the tentacles twisted and squirmed as they coiled around Hux’s legs, all the way from ankle to thigh. They lifted and spread him gently, tenderly, but with a strength like durasteel under their feather-light touch. Pausing just long enough to check that Hux was comfortable, wasn’t trying to fight him, Kylo reached out with a third tentacle to stroke Hux’s cheek. He smiled as Hux’s eyes fluttered shut and he turned his head, leaning into the touch. The fourth tentacle curled around the lube bottle and brought it over to him. The tip of the tentacle fumbled a bit, not used to such fine manipulation, but it managed to pop the cap of the bottle off and squeeze a bit too much lube down his cock. </p>
<p>Kylo hummed to himself, quite pleased. The fact that Hux hadn’t made even a single comment about the mess they were making boded well for the evening. He paused for a moment to simply observe his erstwhile lover beneath him. He’d changed since they’d last seen each other, and not just the scar on his chest. Hux was still skinny—he’d probably never put on much weight—but he looked wirier, fitter. He had always passed the First Order’s physicals, but he had viewed exertion as merely a means to an end and not something to be obsessed upon. His exile was perhaps not all bad if it got him doing more than simply the bare minimum of surviving primarily on caf and cigarras and ration bars, something Kylo had been trying to convince him to do practically since they first met.</p>
<p>Making sure that both his cock and his tentacle were sufficiently slicked up, Kylo pressed the tip of the tentacle to Hux’s anus. Light pressure, a soft touch that smeared him with lube and promised so much more teased out a whining moan. Kylo watched Hux squirm, trying to push down onto the tentacle.</p>
<p>“So impatient,” Kylo murmured, holding Hux firmly in place and leaning in to kiss him again.</p>
<p>“Oh, you’ll see ‘impatient’ if you don’t put <i>something</i> in me right now,” Hux panted.</p>
<p>Kylo said nothing, peppering a line of kisses up Hux’s jaw, nibbling on his earlobe, and listening to the eager little noises he was making. He did relent, though, making sure not to leave Hux hanging; he’d learned the hard way that teasing for too long meant that Hux would spend the rest of the night in dead fish mode with the most unpleasant silent angry glare on his face. It had made for a very awkward orgasm on Kylo’s end—probably for <i>both</i> of them—and he made a point not to repeat the experience. The tentacle pushed in slowly, wriggling and squirming. As soon as he felt like Hux was relaxed enough, Kylo stretched out with one of the tentacles from Hux’s thighs, creeping around to push in and open him further. </p>
<p>A third tentacle slipped in. The last one traced down Hux’s neck to his chest, curling and slithering over his skin. Kylo lifted himself up again to watch Hux’s expression, to watch him squirm as he was held fast under him. Yes, he was ready. They were both ready. Kylo adjusted his position, lined himself up, and withdrew the tentacles. Before Hux could whine at the emptiness, he surged forward, pushing in with his cock and burying himself deep and coiling one tentacle around Hux’s cock. This drew a loud moan from Hux; Kylo closed his eyes and tuned out the other sounds—the creak of the mattress, the hum of the conservator, the drone-squeak of some night-insect outside the bedroom window, the steady patter of rain on the roof—to focus solely on Hux. Kylo would drink up Hux’s gasps and moans like they were the only thing sustaining him, like they were the finest, most subtly intoxicating liquor.</p>
<p>“I missed you so much,” Kylo whispered, his words punctuated by feral grunts as he covered Hux’s body with his own and drove into him. And he <i>had</i> missed him. Despite, maybe because of, the fighting, the sniping, the arguing, they fit together like they had been made for each other. The sour just made the sweet all that much sweeter. Their skills and needs complimented each other and they were—usually—just as complimentary in bed.</p>
<p>“Then don’t leave,” Hux mumbled in reply. “Stay here. With me.”</p>
<p>Kylo didn’t stop, didn’t even pause. He had heard Hux just fine, but wasn’t sure how to respond beyond continuing to do what he was doing until both he and Hux came. Truthfully, he hadn’t thought that far ahead. When he had gasped back to life, alone on Exegol, he had felt two things sharp and immediate: that he had been given a second chance at life, he wasn’t sure why, and that he felt a sort of pull on his soul like an ancient magnetic compass, telling him that Hux was alive out there somewhere. He knew he wanted to find him, but beyond finding him, he hadn’t known what he was going to do. He hadn’t even made a contingency plan if Hux had told him to go take a short walk out of an airlock. He hadn’t planned anything beyond ‘find Hux,’ and now Hux, shields down in his most vulnerable intimacy, was asking him to stay. He didn’t feel like it was a decision he ought to be allowed to make.</p>
<p>He continued, uninterrupted, hard and rough until Hux arched and cried out under him. Kylo brought himself to a stop, panting, and pulled out slowly. Gently. A far cry from his usual tendency to put his own desires first and simply fuck Hux through to his own release, post-orgasmic sensitivity be damned. He blinked and frowned as he released Hux’s wrists, unsure where this new magnanimity had come from. To balance the scales again and keep them from tipping too far towards sentiment, he quickly rose to his knees again, removed the barrier, and jerked himself the rest of the way off, spilling onto Hux’s stomach.</p>
<p>Hux rolled his shoulders and peered knowingly up at Kylo as Kylo caught his breath again and drew the tentacles back into himself. He stretched out and got comfortable again, but didn’t sit up yet, running one finger through the mess on his stomach. Kylo lazily levitated a sock over to him and Hux nodded a thanks.</p>
<p>“Well, think about it,” Hux said, groaning a little as he stood up again to take the sock to his laundry hamper. “I don’t suppose you brought a change of clothes with you?”</p>
<p>“They’re at the hotel,” Kylo said, sitting down and swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. </p>
<p>“Mmh,” Hux said absently. “Well, you certainly can’t go back there in just your cloak. At least stay long enough to shower and for me to wash this and the rest of your clothes for you. They could stand to freshen up a bit.”</p>
<p>Kylo watched Hux move around the small bedroom, tidying up before disappearing into his refresher to clean himself up. He stared at the closed door, slightly unfocused, just thinking. He thought he wanted to stay. He might change his mind later, might eventually find this life too settled, too simple, but for now, it whispered to him and curled tiny, sharp little fingers around his very bones. Holding him tight and urging him to try.</p>
<p>The refresher door slid open again and Kylo gave a little startle-jolt, sitting up straighter and moving his hands from his lap to his knees, ready to stand. “Did you mean it?” he asked.</p>
<p>“I did,” Hux answered, going to his closet. He pulled out his dressing gown, slipped it on, tied it off, and sat down next to Kylo. “Does that mean you’re thinking about it?”</p>
<p>“I want to stay,” Kylo nodded, his voice firm. “I want to try again. Just us. No past failures, no preconceptions. I can’t contribute to living expenses yet, but I can help out around the house, do things like that to make it easier on you until I can find a job.”</p>
<p>“I’m not going to make you pay rent,” Hux said with a genuine laugh. “I certainly will hold you to helping with the chores, however. That’s just basic cohabitation. Now, for the rest of tonight, I’m not sure I have any clothes that will fit you, but I can find you a blanket, then I can have a post-sex smoke and we can watch holodramas on my couch until it’s time to turn in. How does that sound?”</p>
<p>“I could do that.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Three-ish months into Hux's exile, the Force noticed that he was starting a vegetable garden and went "Oh no, this can't be right," and resurrected Kylo to go find him and do something about it.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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